FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT VAIL - PAGE 3

Yoga not only helps you relax, it can also help you tackle the slopes. Stretching leads to faster skiing, says Argie Ligeros, founder of the Vail, Colo.-based Yoga for Athletes. Olympic skiers and elite snowboarders have taken her class.

The heavyweight battle in Colorado's ski industry appears to be heating up, and Crested Butte may have scored the first punch. In ads placed in national skiing magazines, the ski area takes on Colorado's Big Two: "Heaven forbid we should ever be like Vail or Aspen," the ad says. The copy goes on to suggest that people in resorts such as Aspen, Vail and Sun Valley, Idaho, are "snooty" and "pretentious." Vail spokeswoman Pat Peeples said she considered the ads to be humorous.

An Arlington Heights man was facing charges of retail theft Thursday after police said he tried to steal burritos and sandwiches from a gas station at 1530 E. Rand Rd. Paul Robert Paulsen, 35, of 935 N. Vail Ave. was charged after he allegedly tried to stuff the food in the front of his pants late Tuesday.

Developers hope to build loft condominiums and more retail space downtown. Banbury Investments of Arlington Heights presented a proposal to the Village Board late last month for 75 condos south of Campbell Street between Vail and Dunton Avenues. Some trustees said they liked the look of the development, which would look like a converted warehouse. The project would also include about 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

- A story in the Oct. 27 Tribune on legal efforts to free Dr. John Marshall Branion Jr., who is contesting his conviction for the 1967 murder of his wife, Donna, stated that two days after her death, Dr. Branion traveled to Vail, Colo., with a nurse, whom he later married. An attorney for Branion, Anthony D`Amato, says that she did not make the trip with Branion. The Tribune regrets that the denial of the claim was not reported in the story.

Skier Lindsey Vonn remained in a Colorado hospital Tuesday with “severe intestinal pain” that has bothered her for two weeks. In an email, her spokesman, Lewis Kay, wrote that Vonn was “awaiting results from diagnostic testing for severe intestinal pain.” Vonn was in Vail training with the U.S. Ski team, The next World Cup event is scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend in Aspen, Colo.

The Metropolis project in downtown Arlington Heights hit a snag Monday as the Village Board voted to limit to 75 the number of daytime users of the multipurpose room in the Hagenbring building at 2 S. Vail St. Village officials cited an increased demand for parking as the major reason for the limit. That would overtax an 808-space municipal garage on Vail and possibly send some parkers out onto the street, where they would inhibit parking for businesses. Developer Mark Anderson, who said he is spending close to $22 million to put together the condominium-office-theater-retail complex at 111 W. Campbell St. and 2 S. Vail Ave., earlier had criticized the village's attempt to limit the use. Anderson had said he needed to allow 200 people into the room during the day, as he is negotiating with Roosevelt University to operate corporate conferences in the complex.

Two ski enthusiasts from St. Louis have solved the problem of finding accommodations during the peak ski season in Colorado. They bought a town 20 miles from Vail. Rich Haffner, a former St. Louis fireman, and Keith Grimes, a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, purchased Wolcott last month for $259,000, becoming instant owners of a small collection of buildings housing a gas station, liquor store, general market and hotel. "It was an opportunity," Haffner, 28, said Tuesday.

A 22-year-old Crystal Lake man was arrested and charged with numerous offenses after he allegedly used his 1991 Geo Tracker to strike a 1993 Honda Accord near Northwest Highway and Vail Avenue Sunday morning, police reports said. Police said they stopped Sean McCorkle of the 100 block of Uteg Street a short time later at Campbell and Dunton Avenues. The other driver, a 20-year-old Crystal Lake man, followed police to that location, reports said. When McCorkle left his vehicle, he allegedly kicked the window out of the Accord and then head-butted the man, punched him in the face and choked him before police pulled him away, police said.

Carving a niche in the heart of downtown Arlington Heights, the Vail St. Cafe already has shed its role as the new kid on the block. Owned by the mother-daughter team of Victoria and Michelle Ashton, the upscale cafe has become a haven to residents seeking comfort foods and artistic events that truly feed the soul. "Opening the cafe was a vision of what we've always wanted to do," says Victoria, adding that running a business with Michelle has been an opportunity to "develop a relationship that goes beyond just mother and daughter."